Hanger board



Dec. 26, 1961 M. c. MCWHERTER 3, 9

' HANGER BOARD Filed March 24, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Miles 6. McW/rerferINVENTOR.

Dec. 26, 1961 M. c. MCWHERTER HANGER BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March24, 1960 Miles 6. McWherrer INVENTOR.

BY QM MW Mwmq,

.inaterial ofiset hook-like United States Patent M 3,014,597 HANGERBOARD Miles C. McWherter, 301 S. Ligonier St., Derry, Pa. Filed Mar. 24,1960, Ser. No. 17,318 6 Claims. (Cl. 211-475) offset end portions forengagement with the apertures Such hanger boards are limited in theirutility since these boards require the use of particular hangerstructures in that the hangers must have either only-one supporting wirerod or the supporting wire rods must be spaced equally to the aperturesin the board. Therefore, it is the primary object of the presentinvention to provide a hanger board having circular holes and elongatedslots which enable the hanger board to receive hangers having variousspaced arrangements of wufe rod members and also receive hangers havingsheet projections thereby providing a wider degree of flexibility ofinstallation of the hangers on the hanger board.

Briefly, the hanger board :of the presentinvention is in the form of arigid panel havinga plurality of circular holes therein and apluralityof elongated slots therein with the holes and slotsbeing-arranged inalternate relation in horizontal rows with the slots and holes eitherbeing disposed in vertical rows or in vertical staggered relation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a hanger boardwhich is Simple in construction, easy to use, quite flexible in utility,adapted for use with various types of hangers and generally inexpensiveto manufacture.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the hanger board of the presentinvention illustrating one type of hanger mounted thereon;

FIGURE 2 is a detailed sectional view taken substantially upon a planepassing along section line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 illustrating the details ofconstruction of the hanger board;

FIGURE 3 is a partial enlarged perspective view of the hanger boardillustrating another form of hanger attached thereto;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the hanger boardillustrating a sheet metal hanger having a pair of attaching offsetportions mounted on the hanger board;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the hanger boardillustrating yet another form of hanger attached to the hanger board;and I FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of hanger boardillustrating another type of hanger attached thereto.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the hanger board isgenerally designated by the reference numeral 10 which includes anenlarged panel 12 which may be of any configuration such as rectangular,square or any desired size and shape with the hanger board 10 beingconstructed of any rigid material such as sheet material or panellingthat may be a pressed fiber board, sheet 3,014,597 Patented Dec. 26,1961 metal, wood or any other material having suflicient rigidity forsupporting a plurality of hangers and the articles carried thereby. Thepanel or board 12 includes a plurality of circular holes or apertures 14and a plurality of elongated slots 16. The holes 14 are arranged invertical rows and the slots 16 are arranged in verti cal rows with therows of holes and slots beingalternate horizontally across the panel 12.The holes 14 are spaced equally distant from the ends of the slots 16and the length of each of the slots 16 is the same. As illustrated, thepreferred length of the slots is one-half the normal distance betweenadjacent holes.

In FIGURE 6, there is illustrated a modified form of hanger boardgenerally designated by the numeral 18 which includes a panel 20 withalternately arranged holes 22 and slots 24. In this form of theinvention, the horizontal rows of holes and slots are arranged with analternate arrangement of holes and slots in the same manner as inFIGURE 1. However, in the vertical rows, the holes and slots are not inalignment with each other as in FIGURE 1 but are in staggered relationwith each other as clearly illustrated in FIGURE 6.

With the arrangement of holes and slots, various types of hangers may besupported from the hanger board. Representative of these hangers aredesignated in FIG- URE 1 by reference numeral 26 of wirerodconstruction, a wire rod hanger generally designated by the numeral 28in FIGURE 3, a sheet metal tray or shelf generally designated by thenumeral 30 in FIGURE 4,

a sheet metal container or the like generally designated by the numeral32 in FIGURE 5 and a wire rod hanger gener'ally designated by thenumeral 34 in FIGURE 6.

The wire rod hanger 26 is in the form of generallya U-shaped bracketconstructed of one piece of wire including a pair of parallel legs 36and 38 each of which has an offset 40 extending through an aperture 14and an adjacent end portion of a slot 16 together with an upstandingterminal end portion 42 engaging the rear Surface of the panel 12. Withthis construction, the spacing of the legs 36 and 38 may vary within thelimits of the length of the slot in which one of the legs is inserted orwithin the limits of the length of two slots if the legs 36 and 38 arespaced suificiently apart to go into two slots. The hanger 28 in FIGURE3 illustrates that the variation of the legs may extend throughout therange of the length of the slots 16. In this form of the invention,there are two generally -U-shaped pieces of wire rod having parallellegs 44 and 46 arranged along the front surface of the panel 12 togetherwith offset portions 48 and terminal end portions 50 with the U-shapedmembers having inturned free end portions 52 and also beinginterconnected by a rod 54 rigidly secured to the bottom edges thereof.

In FIGURE 4, a one-piece sheet metal shelf 56 is provided and has anupstanding peripheral flange 58 and a pair of projecting sheet metalflanges 60 for extending through spaced slots 16. Centrally between theflanges or lugs 60 is a depending lug 62 abutting and engaging thesurface of the hanger board panel 12. In FIGURE 5, there is provided agenerally parallelepiped receptacle 64 of sheet metal or any other sheetmaterial which may be of any particular shape having a rearwardlyextending flange 66 extending through one of the slots 16 and then anoffset flange 68 engaging the rear surface of the panel 12 therebydetachably securing the receptacle 64 in position. In FIGURE 6, thehanger 34 includes parallel legs 68 spaced apart sufliciently that theywill be received within adjacent slots in a horizontal row with the legs68 having oflset portions 70 and terminal ends 72 engaging the rearsurface of the panel 20.

With this construction, the combination of the slots and holes willpermit many different types of hangers 3 made from round wire rodmaterial, fiat" material or varieties of both to be expeditiouslysupported on the panel. Hangers made from flat material and inserted inthe slots will permit the suspension of trays, fiat shelving,receptacles and the like which may be stamped in one piece therebyavoiding the necessity of welding or otherwise securing hooks of roundwire rod thereto.-

For example,. a shelf of relatively long length having a plurality oftabs spaced for reception in the slots may beeffectively supported onthe panel board or hanger board and the combination of the slots andholes enables agreater variety ofhangers to be supported from asinglehanger board thereby increasing the flexibility of use of the hangerboard.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown and de-'scribed, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A hanger board comprising an enlarged panel of rigid material havinga plurality of apertures there through, certain of said aperturesbeingin the form of round holes, other of said apertures being in theform of elongated horizontal slots of a length substantially one-halfthe distance between the holes, aid holes and slots being arranged in auniform pattern with the slots horizontally aligned with the hole, and ahanger supported on the panel, said hanger including projecting meansinserted through certain of the apertures for sup,- porting the hangeron the panel.

2. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein the slots are arranged invertical rows and the holes are arranged in vertical rows, the rows ofslots and holes being horizontally alternate.

' slots and holes are arranged in staggered relation in both ahorizontal and vertical direction.-

4. The structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said projecting means onthe hangerincludes a pair of wire rod legs having offset means extendingthrough a hole and a slot whereby variation in the' spacing between thelegs within the limits ofthe length of the slot'may be accommodatedbythe panel. 3 1.

5. The combination. of claim 1 wherein said hanger is in the form of asheet metal member stamped from a single piece of sheet metal having aprojecting lug thereon extending through one of the slots for mountingthe hanger on the panel board.

6. A hanger board comprising an enlargedpanel of the apertures, with theapertures being capable of receiv-' ing projections disposed apart a.distance equal to the distancebetweena hole and an adjacent end of aslot and a multiple of any-distance between a hole and the adjacent endof an adjacent slot and also any variable of a multiple of distance.

References Cited in the file of this patent" UNITED" STATES PATENTS1,504,523

2,863,567 Friar Dec. 9, 1 958 Sherer Aug. 12, 1924-

